Giovanni Vigliotto

Who was Giovanni Vigliotto?

Giovanni Vigliotto was a name of a multiple bigamist and fraudster who married 105 women in 14 countries between 1949 and 1981 and abandoned them.

Vigliotto - whose original name was possibly Fred Jipp - was a flea market trader. He might have selected a more Mediterranean name to sound more exotic.

Vigliotto concentrated on wooing lonely ladies. Vigliotto always said that he was living far away from where she was living and asked her to join him in their new home together. After the wedding, he convinced the women to sell their home, packed all their belongings in a moving truck and drove away, promising to call them later. Soon he was selling their belongings in some flea market. Some of the victims reported the incident but investigators could not find any leads.

However, Vigliotto's 105th victim decided to find him herself. She had met Vigliotto in a flea market, so she decided to drive through all the flea markets she could find. Eventually she found Vigliotto in Florida, where he was selling her furniture. She informed the police and Vigliotto was arrested.

The trial against Vigliotto begun in Phoenix, Arizona on March 28, 1983. On April 11 he was sentenced to 28 years in prison for fraud and 6 for bigamy and fined $336,000.